PRESS RELEASES

Glacier Village At Big Mountain Resort Sees Continued Success

Hines Resorts Sells More Than $35 Million in Real Estate During Economic Slowdown

4/28/2003

WHITEFISH, Mont. -- International real estate developer Hines has seen brisk sales of its recent offerings at Big Mountain Resort selling over $35 million in single-family home sites, townhomes and condominiums since Sept. 11, 2001. In March 2001, Winter Sports, Inc., owners and operators of Big Mountain Resort selected Hines Resorts, a division of Hines, to develop the base village.

“Glacier Village is beginning to take shape,” said Bayard Dominick, project manager for Hines. “Investing in real estate at Big Mountain is a solid opportunity and we are pleased with the success we have achieved to date. As more people discover Big Mountain, Whitefish and the amenities and value of the Flathead Valley, we anticipate continued interest in this resort community."

Northern Lights, the first new neighborhood developed within the Glacier Village master plan, sold out 18 home sites in less than a year. Since the end of last ski season, 46 of 49 condominium lodge homes have sold in Morning Eagle, with opening scheduled for Nov. 2003. Seattle-based Callison, one of the largest architectural firms in the United States, collaborated with Hines to design Morning Eagle. In addition, five townhomes have sold, exceeding sales projections for a unique townhome neighborhood called Slopeside, which has the backing of one of Australia's largest real estate companies, Walker, Inc.

Hines released 13 new home sites called The Glades on April 5 and sold 11 of the 13 home sites on the first day. The private, wooded neighborhood is located below the finish area of the Ursa Major Downhill racecourse, site of the 2001 US Alpine Championships. Nordic and mountain bike trails surround the half-acre to 2-acre parcels and the home sites offer views of the slopes of Big Mountain with ski-in/ski-out access.

Northwest Montana real estate sales hit record levels in 2002 with commercial and residential property worth more than half a billion dollars sold during the year, up 20.6 percent from 2001, according to figures by the Northwest Montana Association of Realtors. This is the fifth consecutive year of growth for real estate sales in northwest Montana.Resales of home sites at Northern Lights have exceeded appreciations of 25%, while the big stocks of the S&P 500 Index plummeted -22% in the same period.

“We have seen surprising strength in demand for new resort properties in certain markets, despite the weak economy,” said Jon Peterson, president of Peterson Economics, a real estate economics-consulting firm. “This demand is coming from both traditional second-home buyers and affluent primary buyers who are re-locating from major metro areas for quality of life reasons. The vast majority of these buyers are baby boomers, many of whom have only recently decided to purchase recreation properties to enjoy with family members, often as a reaction to fears of terrorism and other dangers.”

The Urban Land Institute recently awarded Hines CEO Gerald Hines with the J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionary Urban Development. The prize recognizes a person whose career demonstrates a commitment to the highest standard of responsible development. With a stated love for the outdoors, Mr. Hines formed the resort division in 1996 with the vision to develop architecturally significant projects within select resort markets.

Hines is an international real estate firm with more than 2,800 employees. Founded in 1957, the privately owned firm has developed more than 700 properties representing 233 million square feet of office, mixed-use, industrial, retail and residential properties as well as large master-planned communities and land developments. Known for its commercial and renovation projects worldwide, Hines manages more than 80 million square feet of space. Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Hines has major regional offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Aspen, San Francisco and London, as well as offices in 70 other U.S. cities and 11 other countries. The firm is one of the largest real estate organizations in the world with assets in excess of $13 billion.

Winter Sports, Inc. (WSI) has owned and operated Big Mountain Resort, located eight miles north of Whitefish, Montana, continuously since its organization in 1947. It is a publicly held company that trades on the NASDAQ electronic bulletin board under the call letters WSKI. With over 3,000 acres of terrain and 85 marked trails, Big Mountain is one of the largest resorts in North America.

For more information on Glacier Village at Big Mountain Resort, call (406) 862-1751 or visit www.glaciervillage.com.